GAME OF THE WEEK: DETROIT CITY DEFEATS LANSING IN FRONT OF SELLOUT CROWD

Detroit City FC beat undefeated Lansing United 1-0 in front of a sellout crowd on Sunday.

In the 38th minute, William Mellors-Blair (University of Michigan) put on a clinic when he got through four defenders and almost half the field to then beautifully finish his lesson to United by slotting the ball precisely, finding the far corner of the net just past Quinn McAnaney, United’s keeper. As some United players feel to their knees and others stood in shock, WMB and his teammates celebrated as the record, standing room only, crowd of 3,701 erupted into cheer.

The first half was all City as they retained the majority of the possession and chances on net. Coach Ben Primann’s team and the crowd were happy with the lead, but everyone knew that the previously undefeated Lansing United team could pounce back at any moment.

Coach Eric Rudland’s United team tried for that comeback in the first ten minutes of the second half. Lansing had control of the ball for a while and despite changing up from the original 4-4-2 formation and trying to find a creative way to get past DCFC’s keeper Alex Bouillennec and defender Captain Josh Rogers, they were unable to penetrate the backline. United ended the game with three defenders and almost an entirely different midfield than the start of the game, while Bouillennec secured his second consecutive shutout with Detroit.

As the game first started, it was not until at least the 20th minute before all of the fans were able to get in as the lines were coming from two directions a block long trying to be a part of the most anticipated event so far of the season. United supporters were not even able to get into the game until after kickoff.

The Man of the Match, Will Mellors-Blair, with the lone goal later went on Twitter to state that it “always feels good to score the winning goal in a game, but the most important thing is the win and three points for the team.”

The next match for both teams is against Michigan Stars FC. United will face them at East Lansing Soccer Complex on July 3rd and Detroit City FC will host the Stars on July 11th and then again at Wisner Stadium on July 19th.

Lansing is one game back in action compared to Detroit but still has Buffalo, Cleveland and Erie to contend with besides the Stars. Detroit also has Erie to face besides the Stars twice, but has proven their clout over Buffalo and Cleveland by winning the supporter’s group Rust Belt trophy again this year for a three-peat.

Toppling the undefeated Lansing United team at home will help to keep DCFC’s momentum going into the hopeful playoff season along with so far outscoring the rest of the Midwest Region with 23 goals. The next closest team is Erie in stats having 15 goals, which both DCFC and United have yet to meet.

Pure talent was on full display Sunday between the in-state rivals, not only to the fans that were there in person to see, but those across the world being able to watch through the live stream and following the action on Twitter as the Game of the Week certainly did not disappoint.